W. Golf Heads to Stanford NCAA Regional

NCAA Regional Selections Monday on Golf Channel

Estes-Taylor Recaps The SEC Championship

No. 11 Razorbacks Move To 12th

EUGENE, Ore. – Freshman Cara Gorlei went low for the No. 11 University of Arkansas women’s golf team in round two of the 2016 NCAA Championship at Eugene, Oregon, Saturday. Gorlei paced the Razorbacks to a three-over 291, one shot better than Friday’s total.

Arkansas played in the morning flight and rounds of 291-291 — 583 put them in 10th place overall when they came off the course. The Razorbacks fell to 12th overall after No. 5 Duke moved up 12 spots and host No. 20 Oregon vaulted up 10 spots on the leaderboard.

Gorlei, a Cape Town, South Africa, native, was up-and-down on the back nine where the Razorbacks began their day. She picked up three birdies and two bogeys making the turn one-under. She would finish with nine consecutive par holes shooting 33-37 — 71. She is tied for 26th overall counting 73-71 — 144 in the first two rounds.

Gorlei is even with teammate sophomore Alana Uriell. Uriell was in the top five after the first round but fell out of rhythm on the front nine on Saturday. She opened strong moving to one-under with a birdie on her third hole, No. 12, but bogeys on Nos. 15 and 17 saw the Carlsbad, California, native turn one-over. Uriell rallied with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 1 and 2 but two bogeys in her final four holes pushed her score to a plus-two 36-38 — 74. She is tied for 26th shooting 70-74 — 144.

Senior Regina Plasencia was solid for the second consecutive day. The Guadalajara, Mexico, native shot 36-38 — 74 and is tied for 54th overall at 73-74 — 147. Freshman Maria Fassi was good in round two shooting a 34-38 — 72, six strokes better than her first round total. Fassi is in the clubhouse tied for 85th overall with rounds of 78-72 — 150.

Stroke play continues Sunday with a cut being made after the third round. The top 15 teams and nine individuals will move on to the final round of stroke play on Monday. This will determine the individual stroke play champion. The top eight teams after Monday’s play move on to the match play portion of the championship to crown the team title.

From Shauna Estes-Taylor
“At this point in the year, it’s a fight and we have to stay in the fight and keep puttin’ up our hands and stay in it. I think everybody showed a lot of intestinal fortitude today. It was great to see Maria (Fassi) coming back and shooting par. I’m really proud of Cara (Gorlei), she did some really good stuff out there. Reggie (Regina Plasencia) just fought her heart out today and Alana as well. We have all got each other’s back and we’re just going to keep giving it our best and keep fighting. If we do that, our best will be good enough.

When you get to this venue and see what’s out here, it motivates you to great things. To be in the national championship and have a chance to win it is amazing. It’s a long week and you just have to focus day by day. It’s like dangling a gold medal in front of them and they have to just keep racing the race and working hard for it.”

Notes
• This is Arkansas’ eighth team NCAA appearance, and the second consecutive showing
• Arkansas’ 292 in round one was the lowest team score at an NCAA Championship in program history
• Sophomore Alana Uriell’s first round 70 tied for fourth lowest individual round at an NCAA Championship
• Alana Uriell continues to play well in postseason. Two of her three rounds were par or better at the NCAA Stanford Regional and one round of the 2016 NCAA Championship was under par. Add in last year’s regional and six of her 12 NCAA Regional/Championship rounds have been under par.